Former India great Sunil Gavaskar says he would have loved to see Kohli play in a team that quite literally has five active Indian test captains. However, Ponting insists Kohli has always deserved to be acknowledged as one of the finest Indian Test players ever.
The India team for the Test series against England in England announced its 18-member group led by Shubman Gill, and according to selectors, Kohli communicated to them very early in the IPL 2025 of his pulling out from Test cricket. With India being beaten 3-0 at home by New Zealand and then 3-1 by Australia for the last series, it is the first time India is not gracing the World Test Championship Final on June 11, marking the end of Kohli’s Test career.
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Ponting said, He’s got to be right up there with all-time greats. If we’re only talking about Indian players, he’s at the top. This means while for most of his career, his batting average was over 50, that has dwindled down to about 46 or 47 in recent times, his 30 Test hundreds being testimony to his class.”
Despite the diminishing performance stats, Ponting maintains the status of Kohli, in his estimation, as one of the great test players ever. He mentioned that Indian cricketers perhaps face more pressure than their counterparts in Australia or England and praised Kohli for handling it so well. That pressure itself, the years he spent as captain, and how his own playing style and fitness sort of rejuvenated Indian cricket-they’re going to remember him for much more than just the runs he scored,” said Ponting.
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Kohli ended his career after 14 years, featuring in 123 Tests including 68 as captain, and scoring 9,230 runs with an average of 46.85.
